Tyche Wealth Partners LLC Has $222,000 Holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Tyche Wealth Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,933 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 424 shares during the quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 7,855 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 43.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,988 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $572,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,911 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $588,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WLK. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Westlake from $155.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.79.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $112.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $116.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $131.86. The company has a market cap of $14.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 158.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.17. Westlake Co. has a 12 month low of $108.56 and a 12 month high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.20 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 295.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Westlake

Westlake Corporation engages in the manufacture and marketing of performance and essential materials, and housing and infrastructure products in the United States, Canada, Germany, China, Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Taiwan, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Performance and Essential Materials and Housing and Infrastructure Products.